Sports event aims to promote region

PORT Alfred and the Sunshine Coast are counting the days until an international beach volleyball tournament between South Africa, the Netherlands and Czech Republic takes place in the resort town.

It is the brainchild of former top Department of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture (DSRAC) official Zwelinzima Nkwinti and his business partner, Dave Lawson – and the scantily-clad beach volleyball players will not be the only athletes sweating it out for gold at the four-day event.

The pair, who have formed a company called Umcinga Enterprises to market the region as a top sports tourism destination, yesterday said their Amazing Events sports extravaganza would also feature surfing, bodyboarding, mountain biking, endurance swimming, powerboat and jetski racing and a night street mile sprint.

According to Nkwinti, more than R1.5-million had been raised for the inaugural event.

“We are ambitious, we dream big,” he told a press conference yesterday.

“We want to promote tourism and bring people here by promoting sport.”

The sports extravaganza, from April 14 to 17, has been given the thumbs-up by the Ndlambe municipality, Sunshine Coast Tourism and the upmarket Royal St Andrews Hotel and Spa, which is sponsoring the international beach volleyball tournament.

Tourism head Sandy Birch yesterday said the event had the potential to become an annual highlight on the provincial sports and adventure tourism calendar, which would benefit the whole province.

She said there had been “huge inte and the timing over the Easter holidays meant families could attend.

Royal St Andrews sponsors Martin and Linda Bekker, who spent hundreds of millions turning a run-down hotel into one of South Africa’s best, said they committed to the event as they felt the region had all-year-round tourism potential instead of just seasonal.

Less than two years after they renovated the hotel, it was judged No 4 in South Africa on the latest tourism ratings by Trip Advisor – behind the Oyster Box in Umhlanga, Kapama Lodge in Mpumalanga and the Cape Grace at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town.

“When we first renovated the hotel, people said we were mad to spend all this money.”

He said every tourism town needed a catalyst, like the Beacon Isle Hotel that put Plettenberg Bay on the map, to turn it into an all-year tourist destination.

“Zwelinzima and Dave’s enthusiasm for the town and area floored me. Within 10 minutes of meeting, the deal was done.” —